The distribution of this story is for personal use only. Any other form of distribution is prohibited without the consent of the author.

Author’s Note: This story fits into the “After the End” universe.
Credit to Arabella for Perscribus, Godric Gryffindor and the creation
of the ceiling in the Great Hall and for Hermione’s diary, of course.
All of the characters belong to JK Rowling.

This story is dedicated to all of the people who decided to write diaries,
letters, and stories and to all of their ancestors who chose to save them.
They make my job very enjoyable.

Thank you to Elanor Gamgee and Arabella for beta-reading.

~*~

"Should anyone do me the honor to read these pages,
I will satisfy his or her curiousity "
Susan Mathiot Gale, appending her diary in 1868, nine years after her
last entry.

~*~

Hermione Granger had never felt more like she was in a dream than at
this moment. The Hogwarts grounds were covered in a thick, purple-grey
fog – the result of too much magic in one place at one time. She reflected
that there was no way that Muggles in nearby villages would miss the glow
in the nighttime sky and she made a note to try to find a Muggle newspaper
in the morning, if she could.

Harry was sitting on the ground, propped up against a large fallen limb
of the Whomping Willow. He was alive. He had defeated Voldemort. They’d
all defeated Voldemort. Sirius was sitting with him – neither
was speaking, and neither looked truly happy. She didn’t feel happy herself
yet. Ron, sporting a few scrapes and a nasty gash on his shoulder, but
no other injuries, had gone off with his father to help clear away bodies,
capture Death Eaters who were in too much shock to Disapparate, and to
round up the injured. Neville Longbottom was helping Professor Sprout
dig through the wrecked greenhouses to try to salvage some medicinal plants.
Hermione was supposed to be helping Ginny Weasley perform Healing Charms
on those who the rescue teams returned to the patch of ground that they
had turned into a makeshift infirmary.

But no one really seemed to need help. Everywhere she looked, as she
walked across the grounds, people were already sleeping, wearing bandages,
and being comforted by loved ones. Lavender Brown had her arms around
a sobbing Seamus Finnigan. Padma Patil was cleaning a wound on her sister
Parvati’s leg. Hermione stumbled a bit as she walked, as though she had
put on Harry’s glasses and was seeing things out of focus.

“What was it like, Gran? When it ended, how did you feel?” Hermione
began an inner monologue with herself. She felt, much as she had ever
since she had entered Hogwarts, that she should be recording what was
going on, that she was a part of history, that what she had been through
meant something. She tried to distance herself – to pretend like
all of this was fifty years in the past. The red-headed grandchild on
her knee wanted an answer, and she challenged herself to tell the story
correctly.

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” The scream awoke Hermione from her imaginings and
squinting into the distance, she saw Draco Malfoy’s familiar white-blond
head. He was bent over a gray heap on the ground, and waving his arms
to keep the team of wizards and witches that had approached him at bay.
His father… Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for Draco; she knew what
it was like to have your parents torn away from you. Then she remembered
that Draco’s father was the one responsible for her own parents’ condition,
although at least they were still alive. She watched, detached, as Draco
stumbled to his feet. “I’ll take him home,” he hissed. Draco muttered
a spell, and then hoisted Lucius Malfoy’s limp body over his shoulder,
as if he weighed no more than a feather. She had no idea where Draco planned
to go to get back home, but she supposed he was going to walk
to Hogsmeade and look for a fireplace.

She watched Draco a moment longer, and then turned back to face Hogwarts.
The castle itself was still standing. She found herself drawn to it, and
imagined that she could hear it speaking to her. Slowly, she trudged towards
it, turning her head every few steps to make sure she wasn’t being followed
– she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was not yet over. When she
drew closer, she saw that the building had not escaped damage. The lower
levels were pockmarked with darkened holes where curses had missed people
and bounced off the stone. Scorch marks formed a sloppy pattern that seemed
to continue to the tops of the turrets. She climbed the main stairs towards
the Entrance Hall, and held her breath as she stuck her head around the
enormous open wooden doors to look inside.

It wasn’t as bad as she had imagined. It was – messy. Hogwarts, as she
had known it, had always been kept impeccably clean by the house-elves.
Now she was greeted by the site of several dozen house-elves quietly going
about trying to re-hang tapestries on the walls and repair broken torches.
Hermione marveled for a moment at the skill of the house-elf magic – most
were still without wands, yet they managed to levitate and move items
with little effort.

Walking towards the Great Hall, she felt as though she were a character
in a story. The house-elves didn’t seem to notice her presence and she
had the impression that she might be able to slide through one of the
walls like a ghost if she really put her mind to it. As soon as the thought
crossed her mind, Nearly Headless Nick floated through the doors to the
Great Hall, a somber expression on his face. A cold breeze surround her
when he halted, blocking her way.

“How bad is it?” she asked. No point in pretending that there would be
anything good to see inside – the battle had started in there.

He shook his head slowly – it wobbled where it sat upon his neck. “Miss
Granger, I have been at Hogwarts for over 450 years, and I have never,
ever seen anything…”

Hermione held up her hand and said, “I want to see.”

“I really do not think …”

But Hermione stepped around him, and with a heave, pushed open one of
the doors. What she saw made the first tears appear in her eyes.

The Great Hall was a mess as well. Two of the four long tables were overturned
and two were broken entirely in half. Melted wax from the candles that
usually floated above their heads coated everything in a thick, pasty
film. There was food all over the floor. Peeves was bobbing up and down
in a corner, emitting a nervous sort of laugh, most likely amazed, for
once, that he was not the cause of the disaster. Hermione had left the
Hall almost as soon as the battle had begun; she and Ron, along with Ginny,
Remus and Sirius had formed a tight circle around Harry, and Harry had
done his best to break away from them, despite all of their earlier talks
and preparation. She shivered. It was breezy in the room. She looked up
and saw the entire ceiling mimicking the purple mist from outside.

“Tell us about Hogwarts!” Her most vivid memory, her most magical
memory, was of that ceiling. She’d often wondered how detailed the
mirage in the ceiling was – if a bird flew above outside, would they see
it depicted above their heads? She’d looked, and decided that the ceiling
only copied the weather, and not anything else. And the mist wasn’t really
weather – it was more like a bird, flying temporarily across the
dark sky. Hermione squinted and stepped on top of one of the benches to
get a closer look. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Half of the ceiling was gone. The violet fog was slowly drifting down
towards the floor. For the first time, Hermione could tell that the ceiling
in the Great Hall was merely a mirage. The real sky was obvious and overpowering.

How would they fix it? She’d read, in Hogwarts: A History about
the construction of the ceiling, about how Godric Gryffindor himself had
painted it, and then the four founders had used their combined magic to
bring it to life. Who existed in the present with so much power? There
must be a way to repair everything – to make it work, to turn it into
a place where her children and grandchildren would someday learn.

With new purpose, Hermione turned on her heel and rushed out of the Great
Hall.

“Lumos.”She let the light from her wand guide her up
the many familiar staircases, and as she climbed into the depths of the
castle, the damage was minimal, and she could pretend that she was out
late, running after Harry or Ron as they attempted to do something that
would most likely get them all in trouble.

The Fat Lady was talking quietly with her friend Vi when Hermione approached
the portrait hole.

“Is it true? Is You-Know-Who really defeated?” the Fat Lady asked.

Hermione nodded and the Fat Lady let out an exclamation of glee.

“As Head Girl, I’d like to change the password.”

The Fat Lady nodded. Hermione gave the old password, uttered the spell
and then, “Bloody hell!” Vi giggled and the Fat Lady opened her eyes wide
but Hermione ignored them and climbed through the portrait hole. She still
couldn’t shake the feeling that someone might be following her. There
was only one person whom she’d want to admit into GryffindorTower on this evening, and
he’d figure out the password soon enough.

Being inside the common room felt like stepping back in time many years.
Hermione could barely believe that just a week earlier, they’d been in
there studying for exams. She couldn’t believe that on the morning of
this same day she’d woken in her bed, come downstairs, looked out of the
window and seen green and sunlight. There was no fire burning in the fireplace
and the torches had not been lit. She was in too much of a hurry to light
them, and she ran up the stairs to her dormitory by the soft glow of her
wand.

Her room remained as she had left it, and she quickly conjured a small
bluebell flame and circled the room to light the torches. She blinked
at the brightness, even though the room was relatively dim, and then threw
herself across her bed, reaching for her bedside table. There, underneath
several quills and pieces of parchment, was what she needed. Hogwarts:
A History.

She pulled the whole pile onto the bed with her and sat up, cradling
the heavy book on her knees. Hermione opened the thick book from the already-loose
rear cover, and flipped back a few pages. She read:

Professor McGonagall had submitted the last chapter almost immediately
following Dumbledore’s dramatic disappearance on the banks of the Hogwarts
lake. Hermione’s copy had been automatically magically updated at the
end of the summer following her fifth year.

Who would write the next chapter? Professor McGonagall again? From the
look of the devastation on the grounds, in the Entrance Hall, and in the
Great Hall, Hermione figured that the Headmistress would have plenty of
other tasks to keep her busy in the coming months. Besides, Professor
McGonagall had not been present for everything. Even in this last
chapter, there were bits and pieces that weren’t entirely accurate. Hermione
stopped for a moment to consider the imperfections of history in general.
This book in front of her had been her guide, her comfort, her security.
And yet, over and over, the older she grew, she had found pieces of information
that didn’t quite make sense, that didn’t fit. All history was biased
and tainted. House-elves were evidence of that. But the future was pure
and unblemished. And in order for her to think about that, she had to
first document the thoughts fighting for time in her head.

Hermione scooted closer to her bedside table and opened a bottle of ink.
Using Hogwarts: A History as a hard surface, she unrolled the
end of a half-used roll of parchment. It should be enough, she thought,
and then she could start her future with a new roll. And there was so
much she had to do – this was her seventh year, and it was essentially
over. She had to find a job, a place to live, and a cure for her parents…
but first…

*

Chapter 388

The End of Voldemort

As soon as she wrote the name, she turned her head and quickly
surveyed the room. It was deafeningly quiet. She’d never actually written
the name, although she’d got herself in the habit of saying it, when
necessary.

Entry by Hermione Granger, Gryffindor, Head Girl,
Member: Order of the Phoenix

*

And she began to write.

~*~

Hermione didn’t know, or care, how much time had passed. Her fingers
ached, her quill was dull, her writing sloppy. With every sentence, she
felt her strength and her mind return to her. She was nearly at the end
of the roll, and nearly done with her story. She didn’t hear Ron stumble
through the portrait hole downstairs and eventually push open the door
to her dormitory. She jumped when she heard a voice ask, “What the hell
do you think you’re doing?”

Ron was standing in the doorway, his face half covered by shadows. He
looked so much older than he had when she’d last seen him on the grounds.
She still hadn’t quite grown used to the fact that he was eighteen and
not a child anymore. When she looked at him, she almost always saw the
floppy red hair, sheepish smile, and mass of freckles that marked him
as a Weasley. Do I really look like Grandpa? Now she saw a tall
young man, hair short, but still bright, and clear blue eyes that were
now looking at her with frustration.

All she could do was smile at him. Looking at him made her happy. “Just
one minute,” she said softly. “I’m almost done.”

And with that, she dipped her quill in the inkbottle one last time, ignored
Ron’s loud sigh, and finished her sentence.

“There,” she said, placing the parchment and quill back on her bedside
table, “now we can talk. I see you figured out the password.”

“Wasn’t hard,” Ron said, his voice sounding strained. “I just wish I’d
been there when you set it.”

Hermione smiled, and motioned to him to sit next to her on the bed. “I
think it surprised the Fat Lady as well, but this is a time for new things
to happen.”

Ron let out a short laugh. “So you’ve made a resolution to start swearing?”
He sat on the edge of her bed, not quite next to her. Hermione looked
at the rip in his robes, and noticed that the gash on his shoulder was
no longer there.

“What happened?” she asked, scooting over to get a closer look. “Did
Madam Pomfrey heal it that quickly?”

“No, it was Fawkes. He started following McGonagall around the grounds
and helping.” Ron reached up to touch the exposed skin. “Feels like nothing
ever happened.”

Hermione reached up to touch it as well. Ron caught her hand in his and
held onto it tightly. He took a deep, visible breath, and said in a tone
that was low, and almost threatening, “Now tell me, what the hell was
so important that you had to run away like that? I came back with Dad
and no one had seen you. Ginny didn’t know where you were. Harry didn’t
know. There are still Death Eaters who got away, you know. I thought…”

He stopped. He was squeezing her hand so tightly that it was starting
to hurt. Ron was looking at her as if she was a ghost and she realized
why he was upset.

“Oh,” she said softly, drawing even closer to him and putting an arm
around his waist, but not pulling her other hand away from his. “I – I
just had to leave. It was all too much like a dream and I had to take
myself to someplace that was untouched. I should have told someone, but
I didn’t even th-” She stopped herself, but what she had been about to
say was not lost on Ron. He snorted.

“You didn’t think? Is that what you were going to say? Wait.”
He held up his wand, which he still clenched tightly in his other hand.
“Perscribus,” he said solemnly and held his wand up to
her mouth. “Now, say it again.”

“I won’t,” she said stubbornly, pushing the wand out of the way. “Turn
it off.”

Ron laughed in earnest this time. She could feel his muscles relax. “Nice
to see that making fun of me is calming you down,” she said, feigning
anger. Ron released her hand and drew her into an embrace. She heard him
mutter into her hair, “Hermione, you have to promise me that you
won’t let anything happen to you. Don’t go running off. Don’t think you’re
protected. We could have died tonight as well, but just because we made
it doesn’t mean everything is over. I’ve seen more dead people tonight
than I ever care to see again in my life.”

Hermione ran her hands up and down his back. “I know,” she answered.
“Me too.”

Ron’s voice sounded very thick when he answered. “I kept thinking – I
mean, what would I feel like if one of those bodies was you? I was almost
sick. And then, when I didn’t see you anywhere…. What were you writing
anyway? What was so important? Couldn’t your diary wait until morning?”

Hermione knew that Ron had always been a bit jealous of her diary. She
pulled away from him, blushing slightly. “I wasn’t writing in my diary,”
she answered. Sighing, she asked, “Do you promise not to laugh?”

“Yes,” answered Ron, shaking his head.

She reached for the roll of parchment and handed it to him. Ron read
in silence for a few seconds, and she watched him purse his lips, trying
to hold in his laughter. She tried to get annoyed with him and found she
couldn’t do it. She laughed, and Ron let out a loud snort. Soon they were
both laughing so hard that they fell back on the bed and it was several
minutes before either could speak.

“I’ll always be competing with that damned book, won’t I?”

“Watch your language, Ron.”

“Oh, so it’s okay for you to swear…”

“It’s not okay, and I’ll never do it again,” she said primly.

Ron rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow. “Hermione,” he said,
reaching for her hand again, “do you think that now… things will start
to be… normal?”

This time it was Hermione who snorted. “Normal?” she asked. “What’s normal?
I don’t think I even know.”

“This, for starters,” he answered and leaned forward to kiss her. All
her remaining anxiety was replaced by a feeling that she was flying. She
reached out to pull him closer to her, and they remained there for quite
a while, enjoying the feeling of being young, alive, and in love.

Most importantly, they were, for the first time, without fear.

//

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